First Sunday of Advent – 01 December 2019 Isaiah 2:1-5. Psalm 122:1-2, 3-4, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9. Romans 13:11-14. Matthew 24:37-44. Coming That Is Certain Yet Unknown. We begin a new liturgical year today, focusing on the parousia, the “end time”, … Read More
Second Sunday of Advent By this time of year, the election campaign season in the United States will be in full swing. If it’s anything like recent years, it will be ugly, brutal, and on full display across our media … Read More
First Sunday of Advent When digital planners and calendars weren’t yet the norm, I always looked forward to the ritual cracking open of my brand-new liturgical calendar ordo and my pristine dayplanner to make my first calendar entry for the … Read More
Thanksgiving Day Most of us never get personal handwritten letters in the mail anymore. Instead, our postal mailboxes are filled with bills, ads, and end-of-the-year solicitations, and our electronic mailboxes numb us with spam, more ads, and work. In this … Read More
Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe The proclamation today of Jesus’s crucifixion reminds us that this solemnity of Christ as King of the Universe is not what one imagines is appropriate for royalty. Here, we have no trumpet … Read More
Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time In our line of work, it can be easy to fall into a spirit of pessimism, crankiness, stress, or general worry. Especially this time of year, when the pressures of the secular calendar, our home … Read More
Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time Much can distract us from the main point tying today’s readings together. The gruesome torture and killing of seven brothers and their mother might lead us down the path of talking about religious persecution, or … Read More
Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time My friends think my house is always neat and tidy. That’s because I only invite them over after I’ve spent hours cleaning up the mess and hiding everything else in closets, the oven, and behind … Read More
Solemnity of All Saints / The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed One of our most underused treasures is the Litany of Saints. Most of us pray it only at the Easter Vigil, unless there are no baptisms and the … Read More
Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time I used to believe that I was nothing like the Pharisee in today’s parable—righteously smug as he measured his piety against the “rest of humanity”—until I realized I loved the liturgy more than I loved … Read More